Green co contributes to emission cut

Newly manufactured energy-saving bulbs being tested at the factory of Energypac Electronics Ltd. Inset, an official addressing an orientation programme for some employees of the company on the lamp's quality. Photo: Courtesy

Energypac Electronics Ltd won the HSBC-The Daily Star Climate Awards 2011 for its pioneering role in manufacturing, promoting and popularising energy-efficient lights in Bangladesh. Md Nurul Akhter, the CEO of the company, speaks to The Daily Star about the philosophy behind his firm's “green business”.
There is nothing but an LED lamp illuminating the surroundings, and it is easy enough to miss the man sitting at his desk in a corner of the room.
“I don't believe in wasting energy,” says Akhter. “Even when all the lights in my room are lit, it uses only 35 watts of electricity. With just this lamp, I bring down my energy use to just five watts.”
Akhter has transformed his personal motto of conserving energy into a successful business model, with the development and production of highly-efficient, environment-friendly products, including Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL), Electronic Ballast and Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lamps.
Energypac Electronics started trading in 1998 and began its full-fledged operations from 2005.
A CFL lamp uses 20 watts of electricity on an average while a normal lamp uses 100 watts, thus saving 80 percent of energy consumption. In addition, Energypac products reduce a huge amount of carbon dioxide emission. “One CFL lamp can reduce 360kgs of carbon dioxide emission in its three-year lifespan, which is equivalent to planting 26 trees per year,” explains Akhter.
Since its inception, the company has saved 173 megawatts (MW) of electricity through its products and reduced carbon emission by two million tonnes, argues the Energypac CEO.
He believes that checking the consumption of electricity is the only way to immediately manage the energy crisis, which is plaguing the country right now.
“It takes as much as eight crore taka to produce one megawatt of electricity, but only 1.2 crore taka to save the same amount of energy. It is definitely a worthwhile investment for the government and the private sector, given the resource constraints in our country,” says Akhter.
“We are so focused, as citizens and consumers, on the government's failure to produce enough energy that we don't realise that simple steps -- such as turning off lights and fans when we leave a room and switching to more energy-efficient alternatives -- can reduce our energy consumption by 40-45 percent.”
Akhter says many consumers shy away from adopting energy-saving lamps because of its high price -- an energy-efficient lamp costs Tk 210, while a normal one costs Tk 30. However, given the fact that the former lasts at least three years or 10 times longer and uses five times less electricity, it ends up saving the consumer Tk 2,210 in its lifespan, he adds.
He argues that for those struggling to pay exorbitant electricity bills, switching to energy-efficient products can be a saving grace.
Akhter thinks that the government needs to take immediate steps to standardise the quality of energy-saving lamps in the country.
Unfortunately, not all products manufactured in this country are the same, and without proper guidelines and follow-up, consumers might end up buying products that are not long-lasting and efficient, he says.
“I must congratulate the government for its efforts over the years to promote green energy, but its recent decision to hand out two crore low-quality CFLs imported from other countries that gave out within three months did us more bad than good, as people started to doubt the effectiveness of energy-saving products,” he adds.
Energypac Electronics hopes to invest more money in research and development, and to introduce new and better products in the future, such as the high-end lamp on Akhter's desk. However, there has to be more government support for energy efficient and green technologies to make the efforts sustainable and the products more accessible to consumers, he thinks.